Fishery told of non-tariff move
Academics have urged Thai fishermen and fisheries operators to develop their production carefully to minimise the impact on the environment, in light of an expected rise in non-tariff barriers that would put a brake on the industry's growth.
At the annual conference on fisheries, academics said many food-importing countries – mainly developed nations – would erect non-tariff barriers to ensure the sustainable growth of fishery production amid rising climate-change concerns.
As Thailand is one of the world’s major suppliers of aquacultural products, the Kingdom needs to be increasingly aware of the effects that the fishing and production processes have on the environment, and to reduce the impact accordingly.
Anon Sanitwong na Ayutthaya, head of the Southeast Asia START Regional Research Centre, said many countries, in particular developed nations, were increasingly determined to see "go green" policies move to the forefront in industry.
Inevitably, the fisheries industry will be affected by such a trend, which means Thai producers need to increase their awareness of the issue, he said.
Climate-change problems have raised the awareness of many countries when it comes to protecting the environment, he said, adding that non-tariff barriers such as those ensuring green production, which creates less impact on the environment and on animals’ lives, will become increasingly important to ensure sustainable development.
Anon said climate change had already gradually raised sea levels by an average of 1 to 2 millimetres a year, which would clearly affect the habitats of marine life and, in turn, the fishery industry.
According to the Fisheries Department, Thailand is one of the world’s top 10 seafood suppliers. Last year, the country sold 570,000 tonnes of seafood products to the global market, earning more than US$2.25 billion (Bt70 billion) in the process.
Suthiporn Jittmittraparb, secretary-general of the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), said the authorities needed to allocate more funds to support fisheries research and development and ensure the sector’s export competitiveness.
On average, only 0.2 per cent of the country’s annual R&D budget goes to fisheries, he said.
R&D should focus on sustainable development of the industry by developing all parts of the process, from fishery production and fishing through to trading, he added.
Suthiporn said that starting this year, the NRCT would focus its R&D on aqua products for a period of between five and 10 years.
The government should also promote closer cooperation between agencies so as to adopt R&D for the benefit of the industry’s development, he said.
Wimol Jantrarotai, director-general of the Fisheries Depart-ment, said that this year the agency had been allocated a budget of Bt38 million for R&D. This has enabled 107 R&D projects to be conducted in support of fishery industry growth.
The studies emphasise the impact of climate change and the development of the industry’s competitiveness ahead of the Asean Economic Community’s implementation in 2015.
